October 24, 2013 1:58pm EDTOctober 24, 2013 1:48pm EDTsponsor:enterpriseMissouri's first season in the SEC was a disaster: no postseason for the first time since 2004 and a 5-7 record. But look at the Tigers in Year 2: undefeated, No. 5 and on track to play for the SEC title, writes Matt Hayes.

These were the guys who weren’t going to be intimidated. The guys who had played in a big boy conference, thank you, and what in the world makes you think they wouldn’t be ready this time around?

That was Missouri a year ago, rolling into the SEC with one equal parts bravado and indignation—and getting exposed so profoundly, the most successful coach in the school’s history entered Year 2 in the SEC staring at a clear make or break moment.

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This is Missouri now: ranked No. 5 in the nation, and a game away from a near insurmountable three-game lead in the SEC East Division.

“We went from two weeks ago not dealing with anything,” said Missouri coach Gary Pinkel, “to now being a lot of things out there.”

Which, of course, is better than the alternative: a humbling first season in the SEC that finished with a 5-7 record and no postseason for the first time since 2004. And a whole lot of self-evaluation.

“We all had to ask ourselves, are we doing everything we can?” said Missouri wideout L’Damian Washington. “There were things that were out of our control, but as a competitor, you can’t use that as a crutch.”

Let’s get this straight before we go further: Missouri didn’t use injuries as an excuse for last season. So don’t even think about using everyone else’s injuries—specifically injury-gutted East Division heavyweights Georgia, Florida and South Carolina—as an excuse now.

Georgia was playing with third-string skill players. Florida had seven starters out with injuries. And you know what else? Missouri had a quarterback making his first start against the Gators—a redshirt freshman (Maty Mauk) playing for the team’s best (and injured) player James Franklin.

All you have to do is look at the first play last week against Florida to see this Mizzou team is not like last year’s team. In every way imaginable.

Instead of playing it safe and allowing Mauk to ease into his first career start against the SEC’s best defense, why not strike on Play 1? Mauk threw deep to Washington, who was covered by the SEC’s best cornerback Vernon Hargreaves, and picked up 41 yards on the perfectly thrown ball.

A play later, he threw in the corner of the end zone for Bud Sasser and a 20-yard touchdown.

That’s the whole point Missouri players and Pinkel were trying to make last season, when everyone assumed the Tigers would struggle in the nation’s best conference. It’s just football; it’s not like Missouri hadn’t played well for years under Pinkel.

This is the same team that was ranked No. 1 in the nation going into the final week of the 2007 season, before losing to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game and failing to advance to the BCS National Championship Game. The same team that won big games as a member of the Big 12 under Pinkel, including bowl games against the SEC.

So, yeah, excuse Pinkel if he was a little insulted when he walked into the moshpit that is SEC Media Days last year and said, “We played in a pretty good football league ourselves.”

Blaspheme!

“What did people expect us to say, that we were afraid?” Washington said.

Then injuries on the offensive line happened; then Franklin’s shoulder—the one that was hurt in the offseason—got dinged again. Then Pinkel botched the handling of Franklin’s injury by questioning his toughness, which damaged the psyche of a team that had rallied behind its quarterback.

You want to talk injuries and/or adjusting to the best conference in the game, or you want to talk about a team finding itself again this fall and playing like it always knew it could? Either way, this is your Mizzou, everyone.

Deal with it.

They’re unbeaten and poised to start 8-0 for the first time since 1960, when Dan Devine led the Tigers to 10 straight wins before losing to Kansas—a game that was later forfeited to Missouri because the Jayhawks used an ineligible player.

That’s a long way from last year’s team, whose only two wins in the final games of the season were against the two worst teams in the East Division: Tennessee and Kentucky.

“They were a good team last year,” said Florida coach Will Muschamp. “They were just dealing with some things that were out of their control.”

Guess what, everyone? They’re still dealing with those same things. Franklin was playing as well as any quarterback in the SEC when he separated his shoulder against Georgia.

But instead of complaining about injuries—they didn’t complain last year, either—Pinkel gave the ball to Mauk and didn’t change a thing. And the player who accounted for more than 120 touchdowns in his final two seasons in high school—but was passed over by many programs because he was deemed “too short” (he’s, maybe, 5-feet-11)—stepped in and played nearly flawlessly against a beast of a defense.

And suddenly, out of nowhere, the team that couldn’t trade blows with the big, bad SEC is now ranked No. 5 in the nation—and a game away from all but wrapping up a spot in the most important SEC game of all.

“We’ve only got 12 shots at this,” Pinkel said. “Our players are aware of one thing: keep playing good and good things are going to happen.”